No matter who the VP is, 1/3 of you guys will be upset.

[Zynx]

Regardless of who Barack Obama chooses as his running mate, you will find some fault with them.

They won't come from the right state or region. They won't have your pet stance on issue x, y, or z. They may have taken money from some company that you find abhorrent. They may not have made a decision favorable to a company you find abhorrent. They might not be a woman/man. They may have been too close to some Republican at some point or another. You may feel they don't have good chemistry with Obama. They might belong to the wrong religion as you see it or not have enough religion. They might have no foreign policy experience or have made a bad call on foreign policy at some point. They might have bad teeth or are ugly. They broke your favorite toy in front of your face back in 1981 and spat on you.

No matter what, a good portion of you will be upset and say, "I'm disappointed. First Obama failed me on FISA and now this. I don't know how excited I can get for this in the fall." To which I say, "Get over yourself." In a country where you have to get over 60 million voters on your side to get elected, it stands to reason not every stance those 60 million or more will agree on will be in full accordance with your views. Similarly, it is unlikely that in a politician's career that every stance they have ever taken will be to your liking.

The fact remains that Obama will more likely than not pick a good Democrat and it will be for a good reason. He hasn't made all that many mistakes and he has had ample time to think about his VP choice. This will be a well thought-out decision.

[stray cat]

1. Only 1/3 - then its an outstanding choice

[Lucky 13]

4. 1/3 is giving us WAY too much credit.

This is a tough crowd. People are going to bitch and moan no matter what. But I think that will be short-lived.

I have my favorites, but it's Obama's choice and his choice alone. And frankly, unless he chooses some neo-con... I'll be happy if he's happy.

[Marrah_G]

2. There is no reason to question or discuss. To do so undermines the campaign. GoBama!

[Zynx]

3. I didn't say that. My problem is how many people make pet issues a deal breaker.

They need to get over themselves and realize this isn't some academic discussion about ideology, but that this is the rawest of political exercises.

[Kittycat]

5. Not to mention the whining from last night, has already made news today.

Do we need to appear more divided? Can we not for once just stand up together and say, "hey - it might not be the perfect scenario - as anything in life, there are compromises. But this is the best option, for the greater good, at this time". And be done with it.

[Marrah_G]

8. Gobama!

[Kittycat]

13. Hey, you've made it clear from day one where you stand.

How about we get a democrat elected at this point, instead of constantly working against our own best interests. Once he's elected, then we can stand outside with our picket signs, flood the newspapers with our contempt for every little thing you disagree with. Because I'll tell you now - if McCain is elected, you'll be lucky if you aren't arrested or put under surveillance (assuming you aren't presently) for whatever law he decides to charge and hold you indefinitely with.

You know - the time to moan and complain passed with the primaries. You can take up that torch again on January 20th. Until then, we have work to do.

And damn straight - GoBAMA!

[Marrah_G]

16. Gobama!

[Marrah_G]

6. In all seriousness:

None of these things is a deal breaker for me. McCain is scary.

I have been told over and over that questioning anything makes me the enemy and anti-Obama and that I need to sit down, shut up and trust Obama.

So that is what I am doing. No fight left in me.

Gobama!

[sui generis]

25. yes, mccain is scary

But we still need standards.

If we always give everyone a free pass, then what's the point of deluding ourselves that we're part of the political process?

I got fight! Fight for what's right, accept nothing at face value, demand excellence from our candidates.

Message to Obama:

Look, O, dog, don't be pitchy. You pick a running mate that says he'll interfere with gay families, you're asking gays to vote against themselves. That would be stupid. Work hard dawg and don't sell us out. That would be stupid. You can't afford to turn 15 percent of your people off or make them disinterested.

Having said that: I have faith, provisionally, that Obama would NOT pick a running mate who would stand against Obama's own principles.

[stray cat]

28. Fight for the right to lose....

Obama will pick a running mate consistent with his values but perhaps not perfectly consisent with the view of every individual at DU.

[Marrah_G]

30. There is no reason to question or discuss. To do so undermines the campaign. GoBama!

[sui generis]

38. oh ma gawd

they finally got to her.

they tried with me. God how they tried.

They painted my ass blue, made me stand on my head and whistle dixie backwards while gargling peanutbutter, getting waterboarded and testiclectricfried and doing bantam weight competition prana bindu yoga and after a while all that would come out was Ohhhh Baaaaah Maaaaaa.

but I was stronger. My inner sarcasm detector protected me from all the thought control, allowed me to deflect gallons of koolaid and acres of mushrooms. Okay I kept a few of those for later.

Hey, have you seen smiley face yet? Ana Faris rocked it, dudette. "What she actually said was, ... "

gotta see it. Best Marxist Norma Rae speech EVAAAAAH! ;)

[sui generis]

37. see this is an example

of a dumbass response to put it bluntly.

Let me splain to you Lucy.

If Obama thinks he don't need every vote then he should go right ahead and do whatever he wants. But then he would not be a democrat.

It's that simple.

If some fake progressive here is so in love with Obama that they're willing to give away my family's rights, then fuck 'em. You don't need my vote, I don't give a fuck about your issues either, or your vote (like how that feels?), and we certainly can kiss off the other 15 percent of Barack's base voters (i.e., those pesky "individuals" we were talking about earlier). We don't need "their" vote if they get their ass-less chaps in a wad, which I can tell you would be a real trick, being assless and all.

This is a political process. If your candidate doesn't suit you, don't vote for him. That is WHY we have political platforms, party ethos, a value system. For my part, I do have standards and they're flexible up to a limit. I am 99.99 percent sure I will vote for Barack, but that also means it's not a done deal.

I respect that there are people who have issues in line with our value system. I want to see those values upheld, not cast aside, so I want those "individuals" to have a voice and to have faith in the ticket in November, and not just because some Obama cultie said we had to or else.

Welcome the democratic party - that's the way we do things here. We take care of our own.

[Zynx]

39. As far as I know there is not a Democrat under serious consideration that is anti-gay.

Sam Nunn is not under serious consideration from all appearences. He is always mentioned, or at least he has been since 2000, but once again he will not be the choice. Other than him I have a hard time finding a virulent homophobe.

[sui generis]

43. well I hope not!

At any rate, the only real concern I have is that it would send a mixed signal, and of course VP plays tie-breaker.

We ARE talking about NOT KNOWING so of course it is easy to imagine the worst or at least something that is a setback to us.

It's not so much about anti-gay if it's the yuck factor (since some true blue gays have "yuck" factor too about some hetero bedroom practices), but ACTING on it would be an issue.

Vitriole aside, I do believe that Obama is highly likely to make the best, most principled choice, and hopefully that coincides with the most strategic and tactical choice.

We do worry on my team when a candidate is "for equal rights" but "against marriage and civil unions"; not because they have any real power over our daily lives but because we are Americans like everyone else and just sick and tired of being handed second best, or being second class. We're cautious yes, but get us enthusiastic about something and we're also extraordinary fighters, diplomats, friends, and we'll be vanpooling people to the polls if necessary.

[Clark2008]

18. In other words: Be a Good German.

:eyes:

[Marrah_G]

19. To question is to undermine the campaign. Gobama.

[stray cat]

29. No -complain if you want but you are not the one who ran for and received the nomination

Your right to decide ends at your one vote

[Marrah_G]

31. self-delete

[sui generis]

47. I would like to see the mods

just fucking fry people who minimize the votes of their fellow democrats.

What the hell. Our vote counts WHEN we cast it, and because we can't change its trajectory after we cast it, we better fucking well know what we're voting for.

You're right. We get one shot. That's why we want to be sure instead of waiting for some politico bully to come along and beat us into higher morale.

I'm guessing you recently voted for the other side, because THAT's the way they do things over there.

How unAmerican to say someone's vote doesn't count and think by saying it you can prod somebody into voting.

If that's the best you can do to get votes for Obama, he probably doesn't need enemies.

[JackORoses]

32. what's the point it's not your decision, and once it's made there's no going back.

[Marrah_G]

36. self-delete

[Magrittes Pipe]

7. I can almost gurantee I'll be displeased with the pick.

Then again, I'm often displeased with politics.

Of course there will be something "wrong" with the nominee. But I don't really care. Do I want four more years of the same failed policies, or do I want the chance for us all to have a better future? That's the only issue that really matters to me in this race.

[Zynx]

14. I'm not sure people appreciate just how important it is that we win this fall.

[sui generis]

45. but imagine instead

that we had the luxury of voting based on principle. Well, then the solution is to be principled.

Fortunately I believe Obama is principled even if some of us disagree with some of his performances.

So I'm not going to vote "because it's important", because that's not a good enough reason. I'm going to vote on principle, because it's the right thing to do.

If I didn't I wouldn't be a democrat.

[sui generis]

9. what I have to say to people who say "get over yourself"

is go fuck yourself, generally speaking. It is a sign that YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST for everyone (the proverbial you), and . . . it's rude.

good thing you didn't say it to me.

My "pet" issue is my family. If he brings on a running mate who promises to vote against same-gender families . . . I would challenge that stance every day until November. Nuance: if he brings on a running mate who is personally against same-gender families but said that was a personal choice and not a moral judgement and not something he would act on, I could very grudgingly accept that.

Seriously, you really did start down the wrong path there toots. "Get over yourself" is NEVER called for in political discussion. The fact is you have to sell pragmatism in a constructive way, not minimize people or their viewpoints, if you want greater cohesion in the political process.

Otherwise we'll just have another god damn DU dickslap fest like we did in the primaries, unless you're just into that sort of thing.

Quit being all superior and divisive. Leave that to me. :P

[Zynx]

12. I stand by my statement.

So many people on this board threaten to withold support over a single issue. Even in your case, you know full well you can trust a Democrat to at the very least make court appointments that will look after your interests far more than John McCain and the far right-wing asshole he will choose.

[sui generis]

17. well then you're anticipating

which is half the causing.

I clearly did say I would seek to inform that candidate every day up until the election.

Here's what I'm going to stand behind:

If you have to browbeat people to vote for you then you've already lost. good luck with that. What I'm saying to put it clearly is that people who disrespect their fellow voters like your post did are who will be responsible for getting McCain into office.

Unite. Stop dividing.

[Zynx]

23. What do you say about the people who continue to disparage good Democrats?

I've seen people rip Kaine, Biden, Clinton, Clark, Richardson, etc to shreds.

[sui generis]

27. that's five people who vote

The deal is, it's unsportsmanlike. We ARE on the same team already. We need to be encouraging each other, be the "big brother", "trusted friend", real mensch of our fellow democrats. There may be issues we disagree on, but we do agree that as long as the issues have focus on liberal/progressive ideals in this election we're pretty much all still together.

We have to be the bigger man (or lady) and mentor and support each other, be there for each other.

[Zynx]

41. The problem I have is that people seem to be spending far more time ripping

apart very good Democrats than spending time on McCain. Like it or not, the debates amongst ourselves here at DU over Obama's choice of VP will have precisely ZERO impact as to the final choice.

[sui generis]

44. actually it does impact

it helps us sort out our thinking; and there are staffers who do troll "grassroots" opinion.

You are correct - it won't have an impact on his choice, but it will have an impact on who supports him after he makes his choice.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. seconded. homophobia is not a pet issue.

i will never get over nunn enough to vote wiht him on the ticket

[book_worm]

10. And unlike some predictors he will not name the VP today.

[scheming daemons]

11. If it's Hagel, 3/4 will be upset. If it's Hillary, 1/2 will be upset.....

..but you're right on just about every other choice.

[TwilightGardener]

15. Yes, there's "upset" and then there's "exploding heads".

I'm fine with Hagel, but my head would explode with Hillary--many others would be the reverse of that. Either way, it would be left-blogosphere server meltdown.

[Clark2008]

20. And if it's Wes Clark, only about five people here, total, would be upset.

:hi:

[Zynx]

40. I could imagine more than that if for no other reason their personal favorite wasn't chosen.

[mvd]

21. Each VP candidate has positives and negatives

You just have to weigh those positives with the negatives and also factor in chemistry. But the negatives will always be mentioned by some.

[Nederland]

22. Agreed

Thanks God the opinion of DU doesn't matter--we'd loose elections everytime.

[Growler]

42. so true..... n/t

[Fleshdancer]

26. The only way I'll be disappointed is if he chooses Lieberman

My crystal ball tells me I have nothing to worry about. ;)

[salonghorn70]

33. We Need Some Balance

We all know that Obama played basketball and can shoot a pretty good three pointer. So we need some balance in a VP. We need a VP who thinks football is important. That is a really big issue down here in Texas. Maybe even a VP who is willing to start a Democrats For Football Caucus. A VP who will insist that he or she won't campaign on Saturdays and Sundays when football is on tv. Maybe a VP who can throw a 50 yard TD pass to counter Obama's tendency to shoot three pointers. We need a VP whose religion is football but who stands for each of us to choose the sport of our choice.

Oh well, just my thoughts.

[Enrique]

34. imagine when Obama becomes president

seriously, is there any way that Obama or any democratic president will not be vilified daily on DU? I can't imagine such a scenario.

[LowerManhattanite]

35. K&R n/t

[Rowdyboy]

46. At minimum 1/3.....more likely 1/2....unless its Hagel or Nunn

Then we're talking Chernobyl style meltdown.

[GreenPartyVoter]

48. I am sure you are right. I am also sure he won't pick Cynthia McKinney, which

would have been cool in my book. ;)